Friday, March 13, 2015

I visited The Attic Needlework over a month ago, just as I was getting this cold from Hell. It is hard to believe, but I am on a second round of antibiotics for another ear infection/sore throat but that's neither here nor there as one good thing came from laying around the house listlessly for so long.

A finish!

I saw this finished piece while I was at The Attic:

It is from Threads Through Time and is a piece charted for DMC. Here is the cover of the pattern:

I liked that a verse had been substituted for the wording at the top. So I bought the pattern and since it seemed "small" (haha) thought I would stitch it while I was sick. It really isn't a small sampler, there is a LOT of dense stitching in this but I find that can be soothing, not having to change threads and going mindlessly row by row filling in with a color.

I pulled Olde Willow threads to stitch this piece, not really thinking deeply about the colors as I only have 100 of the threads and where the pattern said "dark green" I pulled the darkest green and "light green" was the only other green in my collection so I used what I had which was very freeing. There was no agonizing and wondering if one shade darker would have been better as I didn't have one shade darker. I had two colors of green in my bundle of Old Willow so that was that. I really like how the piece turned out:

I will say that is the shaggiest tree I have ever stitched. My favorite is the extra large woman. I love oversized people that tower over buildings in samplers. I have never designed one so maybe I will at some point.

While at The Attic I took pictures of a couple of my designs on the wall. Here is Peaceful Paradise:

And two different versions of "A Patriot's Sampler" done with different colors on different colored linen:

Blue fabric!

And Pink! I love to see how stitchers make these pieces their own.

Last weekend we went to a lovely wedding, one of my best friend's daughters. We met when my daughter was 6 months old and Julia was almost two. I remember taking my kids to her second birthday party and she received a pink tutu and twirled and danced in it. My daughter told me she feels my friend is like family and is more like an aunt as she has been there for every birthday, Halloween and summer vacation fun. Where did the time go? I feel like Michelle Duggar in the latest commercials talking about her daughters getting married, "I just blinked!"

Luckily, living in Tucson makes March a perfect time for an outdoor wedding. This was held at the museum of art and was beautiful:

We had just arrived and the bridal party had just finished family photos. That's Julia in her dress.

And here are the newlyweds walking back down the aisle after the "I do's". Funny coincidence is she now has my maiden name and her and her husband's initials are the same as my parents.

And this is to show the reception but mostly to show the guy in the blue shirt. He just got a contract for a show on the History Channel. So we shall see where that goes. Nice guy, just got his graduate degree in geology and totally off topic, lol.

We also managed to slip in a weekend in Mexico this month. When we were there in January, I picked up a birthday present for a friend who loves the embroidered Mexican blouses:

I love that purple! I knew I had an embroidered Mexican blouse that I had bought in high school a hundred years ago so I dug through my closet until I found it:

Pretty much the same embroidery but mine is made more of white cotton sheeting and the other is a thicker, nicer fabric. The good thing about finding it is that my closet made me so disgusted that I collected up a garbage sack of old clothes for the thrift store. So win-win. Except they are still in the backseat of the car waiting for me to have enough energy to donate them.

Best place to sit around and be ill.

While I'm here, any ideas for a nice baby sampler? I am going to be a Great-Aunt in August! I really like Chessie and Me's piece but could use other ideas too.

Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied Nathaniel Hawthorne

About Me

Welcome to my blog! I am the owner/designer for Midsummer Night Designs.I live in Tucson,AZ with my husband and have a son who graduated from Savannah College or Art and Design (SCAD) and a daughter who is a a graduate in Japanese at The University of Wash. and is currently getting her masters and working as a TA. Both live in Seattle. This blog is an assortment of my designs, stitching and thoughts and I hope you'll enjoy it.